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Melbourne tugboat captain stranded at sea for 8 days

A 54-year-old Melbourne man was rescued after being stranded in the ocean for eight days.

Ken Putney, 54, works as a tugboat captain for a company that delivers high-end boats to clients all over the world.

Authorities said Putney was towing a sailboat from the Philippines to Thailand when the towing rope broke. He jumped on the sailboat so it wouldn’t get lost, but for some reason, the remaining crew on the tugboat kept going.

Putney was stranded for more than a week before he was rescued by Vietnamese fisherman 15 miles off the coast.

According to published reports, Putney was so hungry he ate three packs of uncooked Ramen noodles.

“We are going to try to contact the company he worked for. We have some nasty questions to ask them,” said Putney’s mother, Lily Putney. “How come he was left at sea for eight days without them sending out some kind of a rescue party?”

Putney said the last she heard her son was on his way to the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam.

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Forty years ago, one of the greatest boxing matches in history took place in an unlikely setting: the capital of the Philippines. Muhammad Ali's epic win over great rival Joe Frazier in 1975 became known as the "Thrilla in Manila."